Drape's Takes

[I've appreciated recent attempts made to define various needs that teachers have of their school administrators. By way of contribution to the discussion, I thought a few paragraphs from a literature review I recently conducted might be beneficial. As a side note, I think it's unfortunate that there still remains such a disconnect between traditional academic literature and the thinking distributed so easily throughout the blogosphere. Not sure why this disconnect exists - other than TTWWADI, pride, and my brain can beat up your brain - but here's my stab at building a bridge. Too bad my references don't link as well as other online papers do. :) ]

In preparing to understand the needs teachers might have with regard to realizing the instructional use of technology, it’s important to understand what needs have already been dentified by teachers in other locations, as documented in the academic literature base.

To begin with, as teachers begin to introduce technology into their pedagogy, they are naturally forced to change instructional behaviors, and as a result, associated attitudes. Fabry and Higgs (1997) have articulated this concept well.

To integrate technology into classroom practice in the manner envisioned by ardent proponents, teachers must make two radical changes - not only must they learn how to use technology, but they must also fundamentally change how they teach. (p. 386)

As result, teachers not only need to understand how to use the technology, they must also understand how to use it to enhance the curriculum. The grandeur of this need, and the tasks associated with its support, cannot be overemphasized.

Levin and Wadmany (2008) shed additional light on teacher needs through their exploratory, longitudinal study that examined six teachers’ views on the factors that affect technology use in the classroom. The needs exhibited by those in their study included:

• Formal training at an early stage of new classroom experiences with technology.
• Educational opportunities at subsequent stages of professional growth that facilitate collaboration with colleagues on authentic routine classroom issues.
• Collaborative opportunities devoted to personally-directed inquiry.
• Feedback customized for individual circumstances.
• Mentorship often in the place of authoritative training, particularly in later stages of professional growth.

The results of the Levin and Wadmany study also support arguments by researchers that follow-up mentoring systems, programs for enhancing professional growth, and informal collegial collaboration are necessary after formal technology integration training. Such follow-up sessions have been shown to foster collaboration and support, address daily challenges, and increase the overall effectiveness of instructional technology use (Sahin and Thompson, 2007; Di Benedetto, 2005).

To continue, other researchers have identified a wide range of teacher needs, specific to the instructional use of technology. While I've found no extensive reviews of academic findings related specifically to the needs of teachers, many of these needs can be gleaned from the reports that other scholars have provided. Culling from the research on barriers inhibiting teachers from the pedagogical utilization of technology, these needs include:

• Adequate time to acquire and transfer to practice the knowledge and skills necessary to effectively and completely infuse technology into their curricular areas (Hawkins & MacMillan, 1993; Kinnaman, 1990).
• More time to prepare technology-facilitated resources for lessons, experiment with technology as a learning tool, and create technology-related assessments (Preston, Cox, and Cox, 2000; Lam, 2000).
• An increase in positive experiences using technology as a productivity tool (Hope, 1998; Snoeyink & Ertmer, 2001).
• Help in overcoming feelings of anxiety on the part of teachers and a genuine fear of technology (Li, 2007; Stone, 1998) • More confidence in the use of technology and in incorporating new innovation (Hardy, 1998; Dawson & Rakes, 2003).
• A mechanism for overcoming feelings of intimidation, in light of the possibility that students might know more than them (Fryer, 2003).
• More ongoing support from specialist mentors and online resources (Sherry, Billig, Tavalin, and Gibson, 2000; Hardy, 1998).
• An increased ability in dealing with the changing nature of technology itself (Zhao and Frank, 2003).
• More convenient access to computers and better planning for the use of technology (Smerdon and Cronen, 2000).
• A better understanding of the advantages that technology integration can provide (Scrimshaw, 2004).

In summary, teachers “need an attitude that is fearless in the use of technology, encourages them to take risks, and inspires them to become lifelong learners” (National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, 1997, p. 11). Fulfilling these needs through whatever means possible might work toward technology integration taking place in schools on a more widespread basis.

No discussion of teacher needs would be complete without considering also the things teachers need to know in order to appropriately incorporate technology into their teaching. This question of what teachers need to know has received a great deal of attention lately by scholars, government agencies, and educational organizations alike (Smerdon and Cronen, 2000; International Society for Technology in Education, 2008; National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, 1997; Zhao, 2003; U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, 1995).

The National Educational Technology Standards and Performance Indicators for Teachers by ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education, 2008) has become a widely accepted set of benchmarks for the kinds of things teachers need to be able to know and do in order to effectively integrate technology. According the these standards, teachers need to:

• Facilitate student learning and creativity
• Design and develop digital-age learning experiences and assessments
• Model digital-age work and learning
• Promote and model digital citizenship and responsibility
• Engage in professional growth and leadership

While on the surface many of these standards appear to reside independent of technology, subtasks developed in ISTE’s list of standards clarify the need for teachers to possess a strong technical background in a wide variety of technology tools.

I wonder if we really understand how much our actions outside of school drastically affect our performance inside of school; but not just our actions - or even those of our children. I'm talking about the actions and attitudes of greater society. Think big.

Consider for a moment, what might happen if Katy was really the name of an eleventh-grade student, sitting at the 25-yard line in the photo below, intently preparing to take her AP math exam.


With this level of support, might her academic performance improve? Might she be motivated to put in the time it takes to gain AP-caliber skills? Might those at home also push her toward success, even paying some of the price it takes for nations to be the best?


While many look to technology as a savior in times of educational distress, until we - as a society - learn to focus on what's truly important... we'll continue to get what we've desired all along. I just wish these desires would have reached loftier heights than the leagues of overinflated egos we continue to pay to entertain us in our weekend stupors.

This is why more teachers today should be using technology to increase student engagement than ever before. Unless you're Hannah Montana, Justin Bieber, or Spiderman, I honestly know of no easier way to effectively increase student motivation.

You've heard me say it before, but I can't help saying it again: Pay attention, people.

This isn't the most important post of the year.

But this is; the text of a speech given by the Valedictorian of Coxsackie-Athens High School a few weeks back, I'm struck by how bold she was at a time she could have behaved so typical. Instead:

School is not all that it can be. Right now, it is a place for most people to determine that their goal is to get out as soon as possible.

Click through, give it a read, come back and let's talk.

My initial take? Donna Bryan, the "avant-garde tenth grade English teacher" referenced in the talk, deserves a healthy dose of merit pay.

Why I love social media:

For those not living on the technology planet, consider this carefully:

1. Guy Kawasaki (Wikipedia entry) is one of the most influential people in all of Internet-dom.
2. Before yesterday, his path had never crossed mine.

Now several important questions, which may or may not apply to you:

1. If you're a teacher, why aren't you empowering your students to access the potential of networked learning?
2. If you're an administrator, why would you ever want to prevent teachers and students from accessing this kind of tool? Are you afraid of the power? While you might be afraid of its potential for evil, consider first its potential for good.
   

Regardless of how you answered the above questions:

Quit acting so surprised when kids complain of boredom and irrelevancy because they're forced to sit in the technologically-barren, disconnected environments some call "school". School to me should be empowering. School to me should be engaging. School to me should be real.

There's tremendous potential for good in networked learning environments. To ignore this fact - as a teacher and as a learner - is wrong.

For the record, I was @Alltop_Edu's first follower.